My youngest son wants me to make a pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin. “But honey,” I told him “I can get pumpkin from a can; no fuss no mess and I’ll whine a lot less!” “Mooooooom” he said, rolling his little eyes “canned stuff isn’t good for you.” Oh, have I created a monster. This particular monster will not drink the strawberry milk at school because it’s made with high fructose corn syrup, he doesn’t like to eat at restaurants, and now, apparently, he thinks I’m Martha Stewart.
What a wonderful opportunity to research canning and preserving (luckily there’s nothing left in the garden or who knows what I’d be in for), and we learned some interesting things:
Once cans are sealed and heat processed, the food maintains its quality for more than two years. (Can’t say that for the aging pear on the counter!)
Most canned fruits and vegetables contain no preservatives. They’re picked and packed at the peak of perfection, then cooked and sterilized in the can to keep nutrients in and nasties out.
Many canning facilities are located within a few miles from the fields, and produce is canned within hours.
In 1996 The University of Illinois analyzed fresh, frozen and canned foods and found that canned foods were equal and often better in nutrient levels.
Next on my driving-the-point-home-with-a-hammer agenda was to take a tour of our pantry (a devious way to get help cleaning it). What he didn’t find were things like sodium laden soups, mystery meat canned dinners, or fruit in heavy syrup. Instead, he found that we have a pretty healthy pantry (Unfortunately he also found my secret stash of salt and vinegar potato chips!)
So, at the end of it all, the pantry is tidy, the chips are gone (cheap labor!) and he’s no longer anti-can. But he still wants that pie from scratch…let’s hope it turns out to be a good thing!
A canner can can anything that he can but a canner can’t can a can, can he?
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Tags: canned fruit, canned vegetables, canning, meal mixer, pumpkin pie
